[George's bedroom]

(Night time at a large block of flats. The residents are making their way home for the night. An old woman struggles to get her shopping trolley up the steps to the lift. A little boy in his pajamas can hear the noise it makes as it travels in its shaft next to his bedroom wall)

CLAIRE: Bed.

GEORGE: But Mum

CLAIRE: George, I won't tell you again. Get into bed. I'm going to be late for work. It's just the lift, love. How many more times?

GEORGE: Don't like it.

(Mum Claire is a nurse.)

CLAIRE: Well, what do we do with the things we don't like? We

BOTH: Put them in the cupboard.

GEORGE: The thing. You have to do the thing, Mum.

(She switches his bedroom light on and off four times.)

GEORGE: Five times. It has to be five times.

(George closes his eyes and prays.)

GEORGE: Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters.

CLAIRE: All right now? Come on, George. There's nothing to be scared of. Night, night then, love.

[Living room]

ALEX: How is he?

CLAIRE: He's in bed at least.

(George uses a torch to light up his room and create scary shadows.)

ALEX: I'm worried about him. Why's he terrified all the time?

CLAIRE: He needs help.

ALEX: He's got us.

CLAIRE: He needs a doctor.

GEORGE [OC]: Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters.

[Tardis]

(The Doctor gets a message on his psychic paper.)

DOCTOR: Please save me from the monsters. Haven't done this in a while.

AMY: Haven't done what? What are you doing?

DOCTOR: Making a house call.

[Garage block]

(The Tardis materialises by a big puddle.)

RORY: No offence, Doctor

DOCTOR: Meaning the opposite.

RORY: But we could get a bus somewhere like this.

DOCTOR: The exact opposite.

AMY: Well, I suppose it can't all be planets and history and stuff, Rory.

DOCTOR: Yes, it can. Course it can. Planets and history and stuff. That's what we do. But not today. No. Today, we're answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the universe. A child's bedroom.

[By the lift]

(George can hear the squeak of Mrs Rossiter's shopping trolley, and her asthmatic breathing as she goes past his window.)

RORY: Please save me from the monsters? Who sent that?

DOCTOR: That's what we're here to find out.

AMY: Sounds like something a kid would say.

DOCTOR: Exactly. A scared kid. A very scared kid. So scared that somehow its cry for help got through to us in the Tardis.

AMY: Yeah, but you've traced it here.

DOCTOR: Exactly. Ah. Going up.

[Living room]

(Alex is slumped on the settee looking at family photographs rather than watching the box. Sounds like the One Show or something equally inane.)

TELEVISION: Now, did you know there that there are twice as many pets as people here in the UK? Now that's a lot of animals and we want to know how clever they are. Now, if you were watching BBC1 on Saturday night, you will have seen Rolf Harris and Kate Humble

(George is still scanning his room with the torch, getting more and more frightened.)

[Block of flats]

(The trio are knocking on a doors. A little girl answers the one Amy is at, while the Doctor gets Mrs Rossiter.)

AMY: Hi.

DOCTOR: Hello.

(And Rory gets a grumpy man.)

AMY: Are your mummy and daddy in, or is it just you?

(The door opens wider to reveal twin girls.)

AMY: Okay.

MRS ROSSITER: Is it about the bins?

DOCTOR: Pardon?

RORY: Community support. Just checking up on community-based things.

(The twins mother speaks to Amy.)

JULIE: Can I help you?

AMY: Hi. Er, yeah. No, sorry. I was just wondering if you've had any bother around here?

RORY: Is everything okay?

MRS ROSSITER: The bins. I can't be expected to get down all them stairs. I need new knees.

JULIE: Bother? What do you mean?

AMY: Well, I mean

RORY: Are your neighbours nice? Do you get on well?

JULIE: He didn't send you, did he?

AMY: Who?

PURCELL: Jim Purcell. Course we get on well. I'm their landlord. They love me, don't they?

RORY: You're the landlord?

DOCTOR: Not the bins, no, Miss?

MRS ROSSITER: Mrs Rossiter.

PURCELL: I thought you'd know that, being from community support.

RORY: Yeah. Yes. Yes, of course. Sorry.

MRS ROSSITER: I've already got a new hip. I'll be able to manage when I get the knees. Up and down them stairs like Sherpa Tensing, then.

DOCTOR: Can I come in?

(Purcell's dog snaps at Rory.)

RORY: Oh.

MRS ROSSITER: Course not. You could be anyone.

DOCTOR: I could be, but I'm not.

RORY: Or maybe it's best if I come back another time.

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor.

(Three doors are slammed in three faces. George looks out through his window as Rory and Amy walk along the landing.)

AMY: We've got to find that kid.

RORY: Maybe we should let the monsters gobble him up.

(Across the way, the Doctor spots George.)

[By the lift]

AMY: Hey. Any luck?

DOCTOR: Three old ladies, a traffic warden from Croatia and a man with ten cats.

RORY: What are we actually looking for?

DOCTOR: Ten cats. Scared kid, remember?

AMY: I found scary kids. Does that count?

DOCTOR: Er, try the next floor down. Catch you later.

AMY: Okay.

RORY: Maybe it was, you know, junk mail.

AMY: What?

RORY: The message on the psychic paper. Maybe it was just nothing.

(They get into the lift, Amy presses 4 and it drops like a stone. The floor indicator suggests they were originally above floor 12. When the lift arrives at G, the doors open and the lift is empty.)

[Front door]

(The Doctor knocks and flashes his psychic paper as soon as Alex opens the door.)

ALEX: Oh. Right. That was quick.

DOCTOR: Was it?

(He checks the paper.)

ALEX: Claire said she'd phone someone. Social Services.

DOCTOR: Yes. Yes.

ALEX: It's not easy, you know, admitting your kid's got a problem.

DOCTOR: You've got a problem. I've got a problem. I bet they're connected, I'm the Doctor. Call me Doctor. What can I call you?

ALEX: Alex.

DOCTOR: Hello, Alex.

(He steps inside.)

DOCTOR: So, tell me about George.

(There is a label on the nearest door - George's room. Inside, George is still scaring himself by making nasty shadows.)

[Rubbish area]

(Mrs Rossiter has dragged her black rubbish bag down and outside to the communal bins. There are other bin bags piled up by the metal containers.)

MRS ROSSITER: What a blooming mess. I'm the only one who gives a monkeys round here any more. Shocking. Talking to yourself now, Elsie. They say it's the first sign.

(Something moves amongst the bags.)

MRS ROSSITER: Oh, Lord. Come out of there! Don't be so ruddy horrible, trying to scare an old lady to death. It's not right. Is that you, George? I'll tell your mum and dad. Come on, you little devil. Let's see your face.

(Something pulls Mrs Rossiter into the pile of bin bags.)

[Living room]

(The Doctor is looking through the family albums.)

ALEX: Ever since he was born he's been a funny kid.

DOCTOR: Funny's good. We like funny, don't we?

ALEX: He never cries. Bottles it all up, I suppose. Tell him off, he just looks at you.

DOCTOR: How old is he?

ALEX: He was eight in January. I mean, he should be growing out of stuff like this, shouldn't he?

DOCTOR: Maybe. It's got worse, though lately?

ALEX: Yeah. We talked about getting help. You know, maybe sending him somewhere. He started getting these nervous tics. You know, funny little cough, blinking all the time. But now it's got completely out of hand. I mean, he's scared to death of everything.

DOCTOR: Pantaphobia.

ALEX: What?

DOCTOR: That's what it's called. Pantaphobia. Not a fear of pants though, if that's what you're thinking. It's a fear of everything. Including pants, I suppose, in that case. Sorry. Go on.

ALEX: He hates clowns.

DOCTOR: Understandable.

ALEX: Old toys. He thinks the old lady across the way is a witch. He hates having a bath in case there's something under the water. The lift sounds like someone breathing. Look, I don't know. I'm not an expert. Maybe you can get through to him.

DOCTOR: I'll do my best.

[Room]

(Rory wakes up on bare floorboards in a dark room.)

RORY: Amy? Amy? Are you here?

AMY: Yeah. Here. No, here. It's me.

(Rory has a small pencil torch.)

RORY: You okay?

AMY: Yeah, I think so.

RORY: What happened to the lift? We were in a lift, weren't we?

AMY: Yeah, yeah. We. I remember getting in and then. What?

RORY: We're dead, aren't we.

AMY: Eh?

RORY: The lift fell and we're dead.

AMY: Shut up.

RORY: We're dead. Again.

AMY: Oh, shut up. Let's just find out where we are.

[Corridor]

(Lots of wood panelling and a tall ceiling. Georgian style layout.)

RORY: You know, it's obvious what's happened.

AMY: Yeah? Really? Because it's not obvious to me.

RORY: The Tardis has gone funny again. Some time slippy thing. You know, The Doctor's back there in Eastenders-land and we're stuck here in the past. This is probably seventeen hundred and something.

AMY: Yay. My favourite year.

(A shadowy figure crosses behind them.)

[George's room]

(The lift moves, his dressing gown on the back of the door moves, George jumps and knocks his bedside lamp over.)

ALEX: George? You okay? What's the matter? Oh. Never mind. Were you having a nightmare, son?

GEORGE: Wasn't a nightmare. I wasn't asleep. Who are you?

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor.

GEORGE: A doctor? Have you come to take me away?

DOCTOR: No, George. I just want to talk to you.

GEORGE: What about?

DOCTOR: About the monsters.

[Kitchen]

(Creaky door into a massive room with a long range of ovens. Amy walks into some fire irons and makes a clatter.)

AMY: A bit neglected, wherever it is.

RORY: Let's find the front door, at least. Then we can work out where we are. When we are.

(Amy picks up a pan and taps it.)

AMY: Rory?

RORY: Hmm?

AMY: Look at this.

RORY: Well, it's a copper pan.

AMY: No, it's not. It's wood. It's made of wood and just painted to look like copper.

RORY: That is stupid.

AMY: Wait. Hang on.

(She spots a lamp on a shelf.)

AMY: There's a switch.

(A flame shaped bulb lights up.)

RORY: Wow. Well, not seventeen hundred and something, then.

(They open drawers in a sideboard.)

AMY: It's glass. It's a glass eye.

(A very big glass eye. Rory's torch flickers.)

AMY: Stop doing that.

RORY: It's not me. Come on.

AMY: Yeah. Hang on.

(Amy gets the wooden pan for a weapon.)

[George's room]

(The Doctor is whizzing through not solving a Rubik's cube.)

ALEX: Maybe it was things on the telly, you know?

DOCTOR: Right.

ALEX: Scary stuff, getting under his skin, frightening him.

DOCTOR: Mmm-hmm.

ALEX: We stopped letting him watch.

DOCTOR: Oh, you don't want to do that.

ALEX: Then Claire thought it might have been something he was reading.

DOCTOR: Great. Reading's great. You like stories, George? Yeah? Me, too. When I was your age, about, ooo, a thousand years ago, I loved a good bedtime story. The Three Little Sontarans. The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes. Snow White And The Seven Keys To Doomsday, eh? All the classics.

(He throws the Rubik's cube away.)

DOCTOR: Rubbish. Must be broken. I hate those things. Better tidy it away, though, eh? How about in here? No. Not in the cupboard. Why not in there, George?

ALEX: It's a thing. A thing we got him doing ages back. Anything that frightens him, we put it in the cupboard. Creepy toys, scary pictures, that sort of thing.

DOCTOR: And is that where the monsters go? Yeah. There's nothing to be scared of, George. It's just a cupboard.

(The Doctor is about to unlock it when there is a hammering at the front door that makes everyone jump.)

ALEX: Front door.

[Basement corridor]

(Because there are flagstones on the floor instead of wooden boards.)

RORY: Let's try down here.

(Someone is watching them.)

[Front door]

(It is the landlord and his bulldog.)

PURCELL: Evening.

ALEX: Oh, hi.

[George's room]

(They can just about be seen from the door.)

PURCELL [OC]: How's Claire?

ALEX [OC]: Good, thanks. At work. Look, er, this really isn't a good time. Maybe later I

PURCELL [OC]: And the kiddie?

ALEX [OC]: Good. Yeah.

PURCELL [OC]: You know how I hate to mention it, but it's that time again.

ALEX [OC]: Yes.

PURCELL [OC]: And you know I like my money prompt.

ALEX [OC]: The thing is, I still haven't found anywhere since the shop shut, and Claire's wage only goes so far. I thought we could, you know, come to some sort of arrangement.

(The Doctor gets out his sonic screwdriver.)

GEORGE: Is that a torch?

DOCTOR: Screwdriver.

PURCELL [OC]: No can do, son. If I went around

DOCTOR: A sonic one. And other stuff.

GEORGE: Please may I see the other stuff?

DOCTOR: You may.

(He makes some of the battery toys move.)

DOCTOR: Ah, pretty cool, eh?

[Living room]

PURCELL: Listen to him. Isn't he awful, eh? Don't growl at the nice man, Bernard. He don't mean to upset daddy, do you?

ALEX: No.

PURCELL: Look, son, I know what you're thinking. Here comes horrible Purcell after his rent. Dog on a chain. See? Wasn't expecting that, was you? I'm not as daft as I look. In fact, I'm not daft at all.

[George's room]

DOCTOR: That's better. No tears from George, that's what I've heard. Go on, give us a smile, there's a brave little soldier. Bit rusty at this. Anyway, let's open this cupboard, eh? There's nothing to be

(He scans it.)

DOCTOR: (sotto) Off the scale. Off the scale. Off the scale. How?

PURCELL [OC]: All I want is my three hundred and fifty pound. Simple as that. Night, night. Come on, son. Come on.

(Purcell leaves. Alex rejoins the Doctor and George.)

ALEX: Right. Sorry about that. So, have we got this thing open yet?

DOCTOR: No! No, no, no, no, no. You don't want to do that.

ALEX: Why?

DOCTOR: Because George's monsters are real.

[Entrance hall]

(An overturned empty bird cage, a candelabra on the floor.)

RORY: Oh, at last. Argh.

AMY: What is it?

RORY: No doorknob. Wooden pans, a massive glass eye, and now no doorknob.

AMY: And this clock.

RORY: What?

AMY: Look, the hands, they're painted on.

(A child's laughter and footsteps.)

[Kitchenette]

(The Doctor is going through the cupboards.)

ALEX: You're supposed to be a professional. I'll never get him to sleep now. It's so irresponsible.

DOCTOR: No, Alex. Responsible. Very. Cupboard bad. Cupboard not bare. Stay away from cupboard. And there's something else. Something I've missed. Something staring me in the face.

ALEX: Look, I'd like you to leave, please. You're just making things worse. Will you stop making tea. I want you to leave.

DOCTOR: No.

ALEX: What? What do you mean no? Leave. Get out. Now, please. Look, maybe this was a bad idea. We should sort out George ourselves.

DOCTOR: You can't.

ALEX: No one's going to tell us how to run our lives. I don't care who you are or what wheels have been set in motion. We'll sort it.

DOCTOR: I'm not just a professional. I'm the Doctor.

ALEX: What's that supposed to mean?

DOCTOR: It means I've come a long way to get here, Alex. A very long way. George sent a message. A distress call, if you like. Whatever's inside that cupboard is so terrible, so powerful, that it amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space.

ALEX: Eh?

DOCTOR: Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire. Through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought, and a whole, terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes? They're old eyes. And one thing I can tell you, Alex. Monsters are real.

ALEX: You're not from Social Services, are you?

DOCTOR: First things first. You got any Jammie Dodgers?

[Corridor]

MRS ROSSITER: Please, I don't like being on me own. If there's anyone here, please help me.

(A figure passes behind her.)

[Bottom of staircase]

(Childish laughter.)

AMY: You hear that?

RORY: Yeah. Wait.

AMY: They're getting closer.

RORY: They?

(They cross to the next door with the laughter behind it. Rory opens it. There is a three foot tall Peg doll behind it.)

AMY: Oh, it's just a. It's a dummy. Oh, it's just a dummy.

RORY: This is weird.

AMY: Yeah, says the time travelling nurse. Yeah, er, let's just leave that for now. Come on.

(The Peg doll turns to watch them leave.)

[Living room]

DOCTOR: What is it with these photos? Anyway. Good. Nice tea. Nothing like a cuppa, but, decision. Should we open the cupboard?

ALEX: What?

DOCTOR: Should we?

ALEX: Well

DOCTOR: Got to open the cupboard, haven't we. Course we have. Come on, Alex. Alex, come on. How else will we ever find out what's going on here?

ALEX: All right, but you said

DOCTOR: Monsters. Yeah, well, that's what I do. Breakfast, dinner and tea. Fight the monsters. So this, this is just an average day at the office for me.

ALEX: Okay, yeah. You're right.

DOCTOR: Or maybe we shouldn't open the cupboard.

ALEX: Eh?

DOCTOR: We have no idea what might be in there. How powerful, how evil that thing might be.

ALEX: We don't?

DOCTOR: Come on, Alex. Alex, come on. Are you crazy? We can't open the cupboard.

ALEX: God, no, no, we mustn't.

DOCTOR: Right. That settles it.

ALEX: Yes. Settles what?

DOCTOR: Going to open the cupboard.

[Purcell's flat]

(Purcell is flicking through the channels on his wall mounted plasma TV.)

PURCELL; There's nothing on. Never anything on, is there, Bernard? Bergerac, God help us. Thirty years old, that. Where's the boxing? Meant to be boxing on. Looks like we are going to have to watch that film again.

(Purcell stands up, and his foot sinks into the carpet.)

PURCELL: What the? Hold on a minute. This is not, no.

(He has sunk up to his waist.)

PURCELL: Help me, Bernard. Help.

(Purcell's face disappears underneath the carpet.)

[George's room]

(George peers out from behind his Dad as the Doctor approaches the cupboard. The lift starts up and makes them jump. The Doctor unlocks the cupboard and opens it, leaping backwards. There are clothes on hangers and toys at the bottom including a lovely Dolls' house.)

DOCTOR: I don't understand it. It has to be the cupboard. The readings from the sonic screwdriver, they were

(The Doctor runs out and fetches the photo album.)

DOCTOR: How old is George, Alex?

ALEX: What? How old?

DOCTOR: Yes. How old is George?

ALEX: Well, I told you. Just turned eight.

DOCTOR: So you remember when he was born, then?

ALEX: Of course.

DOCTOR: Course you do. How could you not? You and Claire. Christmas Eve, 2002, right?

ALEX: What? Er yeah.

DOCTOR: Couple of weeks before George was born. Tell me about the day he arrived. Must have been wonderful.

ALEX: Well, it was the best day of my (big pause) life.

DOCTOR: Sure?

ALEX: Yes.

DOCTOR: You don't sound sure.

ALEX: What are you trying to say? Look, I don't like this. I've told you before, I want you to go.

DOCTOR: What's the matter, Alex?

ALEX: I can't. Oh, don't. Oh, this is scary.

DOCTOR: No, Alex, this is scary. Claire with baby George. Newborn, yes?

ALEX: Yes.

DOCTOR: Less than a month after Christmas.

ALEX: So?

DOCTOR: So look. Look. Claire's not pregnant.

ALEX: What?

DOCTOR: Not pregnant.

ALEX: Well, of course not. Claire can't have kids!

DOCTOR: Say that again.

ALEX: We tried everything. She was desperate. As much IVF as we could afford, but. Claire can't have kids. How? How can I have forgotten that?

DOCTOR: Who are you, George?

ALEX: It's not possible. This isn't

DOCTOR: George?

(The lift makes his toys shake. The bedside lamp glows brightly all of a sudden, then the cupboard door flies open. A white light floods out and grabs Alex and the Doctor.)

DOCTOR: George! George, what's going on? Are you doing it?

ALEX: What's happening?

GEORGE: Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters.

DOCTOR: George, no!

GEORGE: Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters.

ALEX: Help me, Doctor!

GEORGE: Please save me from the monsters.

DOCTOR: George, no!

(The Doctor is dragged back into the cupboard.)

GEORGE: Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters.

(Alex is dragged into the cupboard.)

ALEX: No!

(And the door slams shut. Peace reigns again.)

[Corridor]

RORY: Why aren't there any lights? I miss lights. You don't really miss things till they're gone, do you? It's like what my nan used to say. You'll never miss the water till the well runs dry.

AMY: Rory.

RORY: Except light, I mean, not water. Lights are great, aren't they? I mean if this place was all lit up, we wouldn't even be worried at all.

AMY: Rory. Panicking, a bit.

RORY: Yeah, yeah. Sorry.

AMY: Yeah.

PURCELL: Help me, please. Keep them away from me. Keep them away.

(A life sized Peg doll grabs Purcell. He screams, then turns to wood himself.)

AMY: I take it all back. Panic now.

(Amy and Rory run back the way they came.)

DOLL: Don't run away. We want to play.

(Amy and Rory slam the library door on them.)

[Dining room]

(Table with candelabra set for a meal.

DOCTOR: George! George, don't do this. We want to help you, George.

ALEX: We went, we went into the cupboard. We went into the cupboard. How can it be bigger in here?

DOCTOR: More common than you'd think, actually. You're okay.

ALEX: Where are we?

DOCTOR: Obvious, isn't it?

ALEX: No.

DOCTOR: Dolls' house. We're inside the dolls' house.

ALEX: The dolls' house?

DOCTOR: Yeah, in the cupboard, in your flat. The dolls' house.

ALEX: No, no, just slow down, would you?

DOCTOR: Look. Wooden chicken. Cups, saucers, plates, knives, forks, fruit, chickens. Wood. So, we're either inside the dolls' house or this a refuge for dirty posh people who eat wooden food. Or termites. Giant termites trying to get on the property ladder. No. That's possible. Is that possible?

[Corridor]

ALEX: Look, will you stop? What is he? What is George? And how could I forget that Claire can't have kids? How?

DOCTOR: Perception filter. Some kind of hugely powerful perception filter. Convinced you and Claire, everyone. Made you change your memories. Now, what could do that?

ALEX: Just a mirror.

(They move on to reveal a Peg doll watching.)

[Library]

(The Peg dolls are trying to break in.)

AMY: Lock it!

RORY: There isn't a lock.

(The door is pushed open.)

RORY: No, no, no, no, no!

AMY: Come on!

(They push it shut again. Rory fetches a large cotton reel to put against it.)

[Entrance hall]

(Amy has left the lantern here.)

DOCTOR: So, Claire can't have kids and something responded to that. Responded to that need. What could do that?

ALEX: I thought you were the expert, fighting monsters all day long. You tell me.

DOCTOR: Oi! Listen, mush. Old eyes, remember? I've been around the block a few times. More than a few. They've knocked down the blocks I've been round and re-built them as bigger blocks. Super blocks. And I've been round them as well. I can't remember everything.

(The noise of the lift.)

ALEX: Doctor

DOCTOR: It's like trying to remember the name of someone you met at a party when you were two.

ALEX: Doctor, the lift.

DOCTOR: And I can't just plump for Brian like I normally do.

ALEX: Doctor, listen!

DOCTOR: Shush. What's that?

ALEX: It's the lift. It's the sound that the lift makes. George is scared stiff of it.

(The electric lights in the bulbs on the candelabra go out one by one.)

[Library]

AMY: We can't stay in here. We've got to get out!

RORY: Er, how?

AMY: Take control, Rory. Take control of the only thing we can. Letting them in.

RORY: Letting them in?

AMY: It'll surprise them. We open the door and we push past them. Kick them, punch them, anything, okay?

DOLL [OC]: Time to play.

RORY: Okay.

AMY: Okay.

(Rory arms himself with a mop then Amy drags the cotton reel away.)

AMY: Go on!

(One doll falls flat on its face. Rory pushes past the other.)

RORY: Amy, come on.

(The Purcell doll grabs Amy.)

AMY: Rory!

RORY: Amy! Get off

(Amy is transformed into a peg doll.)

CHILDREN: (singing) Tick tock goes the clock, and all the years they fly. Tick tock and all too soon, you and I must die.

(Rory backs away up some stairs.)

[Entrance hall]

(The candelabra is lighting up and going out again.)

ALEX: Five times.

DOCTOR: What?

ALEX: The lights. It's happening five times. It's like one of George's habits. We have to switch the lights on and off five times.

DOCTOR: Now you're getting it.

ALEX: What do you mean?

DOCTOR: What do you tell George to do, Alex, with everything that scares him?

ALEX: Well, put it in the cupboard.

DOCTOR: Exactly. And George isn't just an ordinary little boy, we know that now, so anything scary he puts in here. Scary toys, like the dolls' house. Scary noises, like, like the lift. Even his little rituals have become part of it. A psychic repository for all his fears, but what is he?

(The Amy doll enters.)

ALEX: Oh, my God.

(The Doctor tries to sonic her.)

ALEX: A gun? You've got a gun?

DOCTOR: It's not a gun. Wood! I've got to invent a setting for wood. It's embarrassing.

(The Doctor finds a pair of giant pinking shears and prods the doll back to make their escape.)

DOCTOR: Come on.

AMY DOLL: Don't run away. We just want to play.

[Bottom of the stairs]

DOCTOR: Massive psychic field, perfect perception filter, and that need. That need of Claire's to, to. Stupid Doctor. Ow.

(Alex uses the shears to find of Amy-Doll.)

DOCTOR: George is a Tenza. Of course he is.

ALEX: He's a what?

(Peg dolls are approaching from all directions.)

DOCTOR: A cuckoo. A cuckoo in the nest. A Tenza. He's a Tenza. Millions of them hatch in space and then whoomph, off they drift, looking for a nest. The Tenza young can sense exactly what their foster parents want and then they assimilate perfectly.

ALEX: George is an alien?

DOCTOR: Yep.

ALEX: But he's he's our child.

(They back up the staircase.)

DOCTOR: Of course he is. The child you always wanted. He sensed that instinctively and sought you out, but something scared him. Started this cycle of fear. It's all completely instinctive, subconscious. George isn't even aware that he's controlling it. So we have to make him aware. George!

[George's room]

DOCTOR [OC]: George, you're the only one who can stop this

[Staircase]

DOCTOR: But you have to believe. You have to believe. You have to know you're safe.

[George's room]

(George shakes his head.)

DOCTOR [OC]: I can't save you from the monsters.

[Staircase]

DOCTOR: Only you can. George, listen to me.

[George's room]

DOCTOR [OC]: George, listen to me.

[Staircase]

DOCTOR: Rory!

RORY: Doctor!

DOCTOR: Where's Amy?

(Rory points at the doll behind him.)

DOCTOR: Oh, no. George! George, you have to face your fears!

[George's room]

DOCTOR [OC]: You have to face them now.

[Staircase]

DOCTOR: You have to open the cupboard, or we'll all be trapped here forever in a living death. George!

[George's room]

DOCTOR [OC]: George, listen to me. George! George, listen to me. George!

(George reaches for the key.)

[Staircase]

DOCTOR: Please! George, you have to end this. End this. End it. End it now!

(George opens the cupboards and the dolls stop moving. George is standing at the bottom of the staircase.)

DOCTOR: George. George, you did it. You did it. Hey, it's okay. It's all okay now. Everything's going to be fine.

(The dolls start moving again down the stairs.)

DOCTOR: No! No! No, no, no, no, no. George, you created this whole world. This whole thing. You can smash it. You can destroy it.

(George shakes his head.)

DOCTOR: Something's holding him back. Something's holding him back. Something.

GEORGE [memory]: Who are you?

DOCTOR [memory]: I'm the Doctor.

GEORGE [memory]: A doctor? Have you come to take me away? Away. Away. Away.

DOCTOR: That's what did it. That's what the trigger was. He thought you were rejecting him. He thought he wasn't wanted, that someone was going to come and take him away.

ALEX: Well, we, we talked about it.

DOCTOR: Yeah, and he heard you, Alex. A Tenza's sole function is to fit in, to be wanted, and you were rejecting him.

ALEX: We just couldn't cope! We needed help!

DOCTOR: Yes, but George didn't know that. He thought you were rejecting him. He still thinks it.

ALEX: But how can we keep him? How can we? He's not

DOCTOR: Not what?

ALEX: He's not human.

(The dolls surround George.)

DOCTOR: No.

GEORGE: Dad!

(Alex pushes his way through the dolls and grabs George.)

ALEX: Whatever you are, whatever you do, you're my son, and I will never, ever send you away. Oh, George. Oh, my little boy.

GEORGE: Dad.

(The cupboard door flies open.)

ALEX: My little boy.

GEORGE: Dad.

[Rubbish area]

(Next morning, Mrs Rossiter wakes up covered in black bin bags.)

ROSSITER: Oh dear. Must be them tablets. Oh. Oh, dear.

[By the lift]

(Rory and Amy step out.)

AMY: Was I?

RORY: Yeah.

(Purcell wakes up on the carpet, with Bernard licking his hand. He hugs his dog in relief.)

[Front door]

(Claire comes home from her night shift.)

ALEX [OC]: Right, stay still. Still as a statue, or I'll come and get you.

(George laughs. Claire goes inside.)

ALEX [OC]: I'm coming, I'm coming.

CLAIRE: Hi.

ALEX [OC]: Hey, close eyes.

[Kitchen]

(George has just had his face washed and dried.)

DOCTOR: Hello. You're Claire, I expect. Claire, (air kisses) how'd you feel about kippers?

CLAIR: Er who

ALEX: They sent someone about George. It's all sorted.

DOCTOR: Yeah, we had a great time, didn't we?

GEORGE: Yeah.

DOCTOR: See? He's fine.

CLAIRE: What, just like that?

DOCTOR: Yes. Trust me.

[Outside the flat]

ALEX: Doctor, wait.

DOCTOR: Sorry, yes. Bye.

ALEX: No, no, you can't just. I mean

DOCTOR: It's sorted. You sorted it. Good man, Alex. Proud of you.

ALEX: What, that's it?

DOCTOR: Well, apart from making sure he eats his greens and getting him into a good school, yes.

ALEX: But is he going to, I don't know, sprout another head or three eyes or something?

DOCTOR: He's one of the Tenza, remember. He'll adapt perfectly now. Hey! Be whatever you want him to be. I might pop back around puberty, mind you. Always a funny time.

CLAIRE [OC]: Kippers are getting cold.

[Garage block]

DOCTOR: Come on, you two. Things to do, people to see, whole civilisations to save. You feeling okay?

AMY: Er, I think so.

DOCTOR: Well, it's good to be all back together again, in the flesh. Come on.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Now, did someone mention something about planets and history and stuff?

RORY: Yeah.

DOCTOR: Where do you want to go?

AMY: Er

DOCTOR: Mind's gone blank.

AMY: Well, I have just been turned into a wooden dolly.

DOCTOR: Excuses, excuses.

RORY: It's tough, though. It's like being given three wishes. The whole universe?

DOCTOR: Or universes. Ooo, three wishes, like Ali Baba. How about that?

CHILDREN: (singing) Tick tock goes the clock, even for the Doctor.